foreign labor

Newspaper says foreign workers were brought in on the cheap

(Newser) -
An article in Sunday's San Jose Mercury News exposed a troubling narrative about Tesla's plant in Fremont, Calif., claiming that about 140 workers from Eastern Europe were imported by a subcontractor to build a paint shop for the Model 3 sedan—for $5 an hour. Per the Guardian ...
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State Department report finds coercion, abuse among contractors

(Newser) -
Contractors at US embassies in the Arab world are abusing and exploiting their foreign workers, according to a new State Department report spotted by Foreign Policy . The department’s inspector general looked into six contractors, and found that more than 70% of their workers “live in overcrowded, unsafe, or...
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(Newser) -
Banks who have taken TARP funds from the government are getting creative about the immigration restrictions that come with the bailout, the Wall Street Journal reports. Financial institutions relying on government assistance cannot hire foreign workers unless they prove that they have exhausted the supply of native talent. So they’...
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Contractor kept 1,000 Asian laborers 3 months in warehouses

(Newser) -
About 1,000 foreign workers brought to Iraq with the promise of lucrative jobs have been living for 3 months in Baghdad warehouses under poor sanitary conditions and in possible violation of US military rules, McClatchy reports. A Kuwaiti company that subcontracts with KBR, formerly Haliburton, brought the men from...
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Would-be tax evaders will pay, but so will wealthy green-card holders

(Newser) -
A new tax law set up to help troops and veterans, offset by taxing wealthy Americans who give up citizenship to beat the IRS, hits some others in the wallet, Portfolio reports. Long-term, legal foreign workers who return home will see unrealized capital gains taxed—potentially damaging the perception of...
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Guest workers march to Washington, say they were duped

(Newser) -
Some 100 Indian immigrants have marched hundreds of miles from New Orleans to Washington to protest what they call "slave" working conditions at a marine construction company. The Indian laborers say they work long hours with 24 men sharing a dormitory for which they each had to pay more...
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New quality standards are expected to pinch consumers' pockets

(Newser) -
Following a series of high-profile toy recalls and international criticism over China's export standards, the the cost of merchandise bearing the "Made in China" is expected to rise at least 10% in the next year, the LA Times reports. "For American consumers, the big China sale over the...
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Retail giant calls young, uncompensated workers 'volunteers'

(Newser) -
Wal-Mart has 4,300 teenagers bagging merchandise for free in its Mexican stores, Newsweek reports. The retail giant isn't doing anything illegal, since the kids aren't technically workers but "volunteers" who donate their time in exchange for gratuities from customers. But labor activists say the notoriously bottom-line-minded company is...
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Outsourcing, technology wash over a time-honored handcraft

(Newser) -
The era of hand-carved surfboards is ending, even in its birthplace of Southern California, as machines and cheap foreign labor take control of was once a thriving craft. Ten years ago, human hands shaped rigid foam to create 80% of American surfboards, but today that number is less than 20%....
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